Yes ... I watched another brutal, primitive warfare room. This time, I jomped forward in history and joined the Crusades in the 12th Century. The movie starts in France, where Orlando Bloom's Balian is falling into a serious period of pain. His wife recently committed suicide when she lost their child. She could not live with the pain. At that time in history, suicide was a serious sin so she could not be buried in consecrated ground. To make matters worse, Balian kills the local church official as he comes to tell Balian that his wife was basically going to Hell ... and he was wearing her crucifix.

This all takes place shortly after Balian recieves a visit from Sir Godfrey of Ibelin (played by Liam Neeson). Godfrey, who was a liberator of Jerusalem in the Second Crusade, has come to Balian's forge with an interesting announcement. Balian is his bastard son as a result of rape. He has come to invite Balian to join him on the Third Crusade to help King Baldwin the Leper keep the holy city in Christian hands as the Muslim warrior Saladin threatens it.

Unfortunately, the Templars have been plunding the city, bringing about the wrath of the Muslims. Thus, the Muslims feel a need to attack even though they have maintained an uneasy peaced for some time.

The inexperienced Balian ends up going off to the Crusades on his own due to unfortunate circumstances in order to win absolution for the sins of his wife (suicide) and himself (murder). He arrives to meet a series of interesting characters ranging from Baldwin's sister Sibylla and advisor Tiberias (played by Jeremy Irons) to a number of unscroupulous, traitorous, and/or unholy Christians in the city. Before he knows it, the whole fate of Jerusalem and its inhabitants are in his hands.

The movie was produced by Ridley Scott, who provides it with his usual talent in bloody, gory action sequences. This is not just a simple action movie, though. He does a wonderful job of exploring the problems of the Middle East by examining their root in the Crusades. And he does it without playing up to the stereotypes or being overly politically correct. As history shows, the good and the bad are found on both sides of this epic religious battle. Saladin was also presented as the honorable warrior history describes.

Even with the sexy Orlando Bloom in the lead role, this movie did not do well in the theater. I have to admit that I am not sure why because it was really well done and entertaining. The sets and costuming are incredible. The action/battle sequences are well presented to help keep the movie flowing. The characters are three-dimensional and the plot is complex enough to keep the viewers on their toes while also being easy to follow. There is even a small role for Alexander Siddig (Dr. Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine> for fans of more futuristic warfare.

I would defintiely recommend this one.

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